Portuguese group builds railroad in Mozambique

Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil has been hired to build a railroad between Moatize (Tete province) and Macuse (Zambezia province) and the deep-water port of Macuse, announced the president of the Zambezi Integrated Development Corridor (Codiza) in statements to Radio Mozambique.

Speaking in Quelimane, the capital of Zambezia province, Abdul Carimo said the international tender attracted six bids, and all that was left to do was sign the contract for the company to start work, “as the cost of the work was set at US$2.3 billion.”

Mozambican news agency AIM reported that of the companies that expressed interest in the project two were from China, the other two from Turkey and the rest from Brazil, Portugal and South Korea.

The line between Moatize and the port of Macuse, located north of Quelimane, will be between 480 and 500 kilometres long and the port should be capable of receiving ships weighing up to 80 tonnes, which makes it more competitive than the port of Beira, which receives ships with a smaller draft.

In statements made in 2016, Carimo said this line would be an outlet for the coal mined by four Indian companies for power production in India.

The big difference between the Sena railroad, which is currently operational, and the future Macuse railroad is that while the former mainly exports coking coal to supply steel mills the latter will carry thermal coal.

The Macuse project is 60% owned by the Italian Thai Development Company Limited, 20% by Mozambican state port and rail company CFM and the remaining 20% by the Integrated Zambezi Development Corridor.